Things have gotten a little quiet around here, so I thought I'd post one last looong idea before the game comes out, just for future consideration. Rather than changing any in game mechanics to re-balance PvPvE, this would be a matchmaking tool to help new and inexperienced players learn how to survive.
TLDR: Training Voyages - option to play as an Instructor or a Cadet, matchmaker tries to get at least one of each onto every Training Voyage
When logging in to the game, somewhere in the process of selecting your ship and crew size, you would also select if you wanted to participate in a Training Voyage. This would present you with an option to become an Instructor, which would say something like "Help eager new pirates find their sea legs by answering their questions and 'showing them the ropes' yar har har," or to become a Cadet, which might say "Learn from the saltiest old sea dogs how to survive and thrive in the Sea of Thieves!" The game's matchmaker would then simply try put at least one Instructor and one Cadet on every Training Voyage and spawn them in just like any other ship.
Of course, there are some potential issues to consider. First, like any matchmaking tool that amounts to players declaring their intentions, it could be abused by trolls and griefers who misrepresent themselves. Experienced players might try to make use of an "easy mode" allowing another player to shoulder most of the workload while feigning incompetence. Others might falsely cast themselves as an Instructor just to belittle new players. There might need to be a system in place to prevent or punish such abuse, and that need might overshadow the potential benefit... a matter for discussion.
It could also turn out that, at certain times of particularly low player population, there might not be enough Instructors to go around, although I suspect the SoT community in general would respond fairly warmly to a chance to help new players so directly and as such Instructors may not be hard to find at all.
It's also possible (probable) there are other potential complications I haven't thought of, or that something like this is already included/planned for the full game, or that the idea has already been discussed and dismissed. I hope that last one is not the case, though, I actually really enjoy being a video game coach, and after I get myself some real experience in the game I think sailing as an Instructor might be one of my favorite social activities.
So, how does all this apply to the PvP/PvE balance conversation? Well, one of the strongest, soundest arguments against any particular change favoring PvE safety is that the game already offers plenty of tools to keep yourself safe. That's fine, but it also means that the newest, most inexperienced players will have the hardest time, which is a pretty typical "barrier to entry" sort of characteristic, the like of which RARE wants to avoid here. Adding a matchmaking tool specifically designed to pair new players eager to learn with experienced players eager to teach seems like the perfect SoT-style answer to getting survival skills into the hands of new players as fast as possible. I suppose you could just put in some instruction manual style tutorial scenarios that spawn the player in their own private instance to complete a few basic tasks, but that basically abandons the most powerful, central tool and "mechanic" the game has... other players.
I hope this concept strikes a chord with at least a few old pros out there, if so please let me know! As always, thanks for taking the time to read!
EDIT
Was watching an old Inn-side Story video from the RARE channel when they mentioned it might help to have TLDRs at the top of long posts. So I added one. Cheers.